Page 61 of Vicious Sabotage

Livia groaned. “He’s already got ice for me.”

Striding past the guy, Carver plucked the ice pack from his hand and rushed to Livia. He took one look at her face, and his brows pinched in concern.

He dropped to one knee in front of her and gently took her chin between his thumb and forefinger. When he turned her face to inspect the bruise, she bore his scrutiny.

He issued a low growl. “I’m going back out and killing those bastards.”

“No, you’re not. It’s a small bruise. It will probably only be green tomorrow.”

He gave her a look like he didn’t buy her tale. Gently, he pressed the ice to her face.

She let out a small moan as the chill seeped into her bruise. “What did you do to those guys?”

He steeled his jaw.

“Carver. I still have to run a reputable establishment here. You can’t go breaking people’s necks for fighting over a woman.”

“They hit my woman. And yes, I goddamn can.”

Her stomach flipped at his forceful words, and she felt them in places that had no business feeling. He might claim to have feelings for her…but he’d probably leave like everyone else in her life. He’d leave as soon as he realized she didn’t have any threat against her.

At that moment, Emory burst into the kitchen too. She spotted Livia with the ice on her cheek and drew up short.

“Oh god. Are you okay, Livia? The bartender said they thought you took a punch.”

“I’m fine. Nothing to worry about.”

Emory bit down on her lip as if holding back her opinion.

Carver half rose from his kneeling position. “Do I need to take care of someone else?”

She shook her head. “Not unless you have skills as a plumber. The men’s restroom is flooded.”

Livia let out a louder moan and shot to her feet. She dropped the ice pack in the trash and started toward the restroom. Carver took off after her. When they reached the closed door, water trickled out from under it.

“Fantastic.” She threw the door open and assessed the damage.

“Looks like the sink broke a line.” Carver stood at her back.

“Can you try to shut off the main line to the sink? I’ll call the plumber.” She pulled out her phone. Unfortunately, with some older fixtures she had yet to replace in Badlands, she was used to this kind of thing and had the plumber on speed-dial.

After a quick conversation, she dropped the phone from her ear. “He can’t be here until at least eight p.m.”

Emory popped up at that moment. “But we’re right in the middle of line dancing night, and we aren’t going to survive one-dollar wings and five-dollar pitchers with only one bathroom.”

Livia gave her a pointed look. “You know what we have to do.”

“The unisex bathroom sign?”

“Yup.”

“Everyone will be ticked. The guys can’t use the bathroom because girls are doing their makeup and taking too long.”

Livia nodded in agreement. “And the girls complain the guys miss the bowl. But they gotta live with it for a few hours. I’ll grab the sign.”

When she got behind the bar, she bent over to locate the sign and happened to glance up to see Carver on his phone. That small quirk of his lips was a dead giveaway that he was staring at her ass on his security app.

Livia had about enough for one evening. She flipped her middle finger right at the camera.

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